Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Debunker’s Guide to Obama Conspiracy Theories

Don’t Panic! Have you heard some crazy rumor about Barack Obama and want the straight story? The Debunker’s Guide to Obama Conspiracy Theories is a compilation of many of the strange tales and unfounded rumors that fly over the Internet about Obama, and particularly alternate accounts of his birth. Each one is carefully researched with references you can use to correct misinformation and win the argument.

Obama’s birth certificate

Nothing defines the birther movement more than controversy over Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Birthers demand that Obama release his birth certificate, when in fact he did already, back in June of 2008. For more information debunking birth certificate claims, see also here, here, here and here. Birthers claim that:

A credentialed document examiner, Reed Hayes, has stated that the White House PDF birth certificate is a 100% forgery. Until the Hayes report is released, its conclusions, whatever they are, cannot be debunked or verified.

Obama’s social-security number

Two issues were raised about President Obama’s social-security number, which had become public through faulty redaction of the President’s income tax returns. One deals with the fact that the number itself is usually associated with Connecticut residents, and that there are some unidentified public records tying Obama’s number with one or more other names. Obama Conspiracy Theories has several articles dealing with social-security numbers and Obama. Here are some particular claims: